Development of the Curriculum Statement

Executive Summary

Introduction | Overall key findings | Written responses | Responses from trial schools and regional consultations | Questionnaire responses

Introduction

Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum is the sixth of seven national curriculum statements for mainstream education to be developed as part of the reform of the New Zealand Curriculum. The draft curriculum includes the disciplines of health education, physical education, and home economics. It proposes that students should develop the understandings, knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable them to live healthy lifestyles and contribute positively and responsibly to the well-being of their communities.

During its development, the draft curriculum benefited from extensive debate among leading educators in the disciplines of physical education, health education, and home economics.

The draft was released in February 1998 to provide schools, key stakeholders, and the wider community with opportunities to provide feedback. It was distributed free to all schools and interest groups and was also available free on request.

Feedback was gathered in several ways:

Written responses
Schools and other interested parties were invited to send their feedback to the Ministry, either on a post-paid form provided with the draft or in any other written form.

Responses from trial schools and regional consultations
Schools, parents, community groups, and other interested parties were invited to attend seminars throughout the country. In addition, 104 selected primary and secondary schools were asked to trial aspects of the draft.

Questionnaire responses
The Ministry of Education's Research Unit distributed a detailed questionnaire to a random sample of 340 primary and secondary schools.

This executive summary presents an overview of the key findings of these consultation processes. It is followed by a more detailed summary of each of the three reports.

Overall key findings

All three reports concluded that there was clear support for the draft's conceptual and structural frameworks and its aims, its objectives, and the key areas of learning. Respondents believed that the curriculum would help to develop essential skills and serve as a suitable base for schools to work from in developing their health and physical education programmes.

Respondents described the draft as: "comprehensive", "sound and clear", "well balanced", "focused", "contemporary", "inclusive", "values-based", "broad", "flexible", "appropriate", "manageable", and "easy to use".

Disapproval of the document's overall content and direction came from a small group of organisations, schools, and individuals.

Areas of concern and issues common to all three reports included:

dissatisfaction with the presentation, use of language, diagrams, and overall layout. Suggested solutions to specific concerns included reordering the sequence of the document, developing a fold-out chart, simplifying the language and terms used, and redesigning the diagrams;
concern about the balance or relative weighting between the disciplines of physical education, health education, and home economics (or food and nutrition);
confusion about the interrelationships within the document's structure – for example, among the aims, strands, objectives, and key areas of learning;
concern about the place of biculturalism in the draft and the concern that Māori elements, including te reo kori, required more emphasis;
dissatisfaction with the lack of clear guidance and direction on implementing the curriculum and on planning and assessing in relation to it – for example, respondents felt that more assessment examples were needed to show how to assess, how much to assess, and over what period of time assessment should take place;
concern about the content of some of the key areas of learning and concern about the omission of a key area of learning for physical health, including personal hygiene, disease prevention, and safety.

Written responses

A response form was distributed with the draft document. Submissions were invited from all interested parties, using the form provided or any other written form. The Ministry received a total of 683 responses from 308 schools, 150 groups, and 225 others, including colleges of education, universities, individuals, and parents.

Most responses clearly supported the direction of the document. Specific support for the concept of hauora (total well-being) was clearly evident, along with support for the strands, the key areas of learning, and the achievement objectives.

There was an overall view that the statement was well balanced and comprehensive. Positive comments described the document as "excellent", "contemporary", "focused", "thorough", "values-based", "inclusive", and "manageable".

Some concern was expressed that the content was too broad, impractical, unrealistic, repetitious, and inclusive to be of any real value. Another concern raised was how to achieve a balance or relative weighting between the disciplines of physical education, health education, and home economics/food and nutrition.

Out of 683 responses, four (from three major groups and a school) contained strongly negative comments, including arguments that the curriculum was too light academically, that it contained hidden agendas, and that it was the result of inflated expectations. Responses focusing specifically on content made comments and suggestions relating to sexuality education, Te reo kori, and spiritual well-being.

There was general acceptance and support for the document's approach to sexuality education. A number of responses raised issues or concerns and made constructive suggestions on the content and delivery of this area of learning. There was no clear consensus among those who disagreed with what was proposed apart from a small number of individuals and organisations that objected to including sexuality education overall or to certain aspects of the proposed content of sexuality, on religious, moral, and/or legal grounds.

Responses from trial schools and regional consultations

The Ministry contracted facilitators to run seminars on the draft for schools and other interested parties and to provide support for selected schools trialling aspects of the draft.

Consultation meetings were attended by 1406 schools and 187 community organisations. Aspects of the curriculum were trialled by 104 schools.

These activities were carried out in the following six regions:

Auckland/Northland
Waikato/Bay of Plenty/East Coast
Taranaki/Manawatu/Hawke's Bay
Wellington
Canterbury/Westland/Nelson
Otago/Southland

There was strong support for the draft statement's conceptual framework and its approach to attitudes and values. The concept of hauora and the draft's holistic approach were considered to be strengths, along with the philosophy of caring for self, for others, and for the community. The draft was viewed as positive, comprehensive, sound, and clear.

Many issues were raised during consultation meetings. Some suggested that the concept of hauora should be strengthened throughout the document. Others felt that some terms, such as "socio-ecological perspective", should be simplified, removed, or replaced.

The strands, aims, achievement objectives, and key areas of learning received general support, although some criticism emerged relating to a perceived lack of direct linkage between these parts. Some thought that the existing diagrams should be replaced or redesigned to aid understanding.

Requests were made by some groups for clearer explanations or definitions of spiritual well-being, taha wairua, and sexuality education. Some people thought that the bicultural perspective was not given enough emphasis throughout the draft. They thought that the bicultural perspective should be reflected more in the strands, key areas of learning, and achievement objectives. Some were also critical of the perceived omission or low status of te reo kori in the draft.

A few believed that the draft was either idealistic or unrealistic and would be too time-consuming and difficult to implement.

Questionnaire responses

The Ministry distributed a questionnaire to 340 schools (220 primary and 120 secondary) across New Zealand. 207 schools returned a completed questionnaire. The aim of the survey was to gauge the degree of support for the draft from a range of schools and to identify issues that needed attention. Responses to the questionnaire also complemented feedback from the more open-ended response forms distributed with the draft document.

Seventy-three percent of schools supported the philosophy behind the conceptual framework and the attitudes and values inherent in the curriculum.

Concerns raised were about the wordiness, vagueness, and lack of user-friendliness of the document and about the relevance of some concepts, such as the socio-ecological perspective and social justice.

Seventy percent of schools indicated that they supported most of the structural framework and strands, and 75 percent felt that the achievement objectives were clearly stated.

Some people believed that more emphasis should be given to some areas, for example, physical activity, food and nutrition, Māori perspectives, and home economics. Some found that the framework was too broad and complex.

Ninety percent of schools supported the inclusion of all six key areas of learning: mental health, food and nutrition, sexuality, physical activity, education through sport, and outdoor education.

Some concerns were raised in relation to the key areas of learning of mental health, outdoor education, and sexuality education and the need to have qualified people teaching in these areas. The appropriateness of educating young children in some aspects of sexuality and mental health was also questioned.